Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, November 16, 2020: Ras Al Khaimah Municipality held a virtual event to officially launch the green public procurement program of Ras Al Khaimah. The event revealed newly developed GPP Guidelines, which will support adoption of sustainable procurement practices in Ras Al Khaimah in the coming years, starting with government entities. The webinar witnessed attendance from a large number of officials from government entities, private organisations and media representatives.

The launch of the green procurement program comes after initial steps made by the Government of Ras Al Khaimah in past years, to procure products and services with low environmental impact. In 2018, the Environment Protection and Development Authority of Ras Al Khaimah launched green fishing ports. Over the same period, the Municipality, through Barjeel, the green building regulations of Ras Al Khaimah, and through the Building Retrofits program, has been promoting more sustainable buildings. The Public Service Department has recently engaged in green procurement in multiple projects as well.

Following the success of these initiatives, a specialised team was set up to develop a framework to ensure adoption of green criteria in purchase decisions more systematically. The issuance of the GPP Guidelines by Ras Al Khaimah Municipality comes as a result of the study conducted by the team, and follows an extensive consultation process with stakeholders and green procurement experts. Going forward, the Department of Finance of Ras Al Khaimah will operate as program administrator for GPP and will coordinate implementation of the program across the government.

H.E. Munther Mohammed bin Shekar, Director General of Ras Al Khaimah Municipality, in his opening speech, said, “From the perspective of economic development, buying green also means generating demand for green products and services. This will stimulate the growth of a local eco-system of skilled companies, which will support the economic development of Ras Al Khaimah in the long run. Today, we are proud to launch the green public procurement guidelines of Ras Al Khaimah from which we expect not only environmental benefits but also tangible, economic benefits.” He further added, “The GPP Guidelines will be applied on a voluntary basis, leveraging the examples of environmental leadership that are already present within the Government of Ras Al Khaimah. We expect a positive response from government entities, given their involvement in the design phase of the guidelines”.

The GPP Guidelines include criteria for procurement of frequently purchased product categories, such as paper, furniture, light vehicles, AC, household appliances, carpets, etc. The criteria are designed to be easily adopted in government tenders.The Green Public Procurement program is an enabler of the Ras Al Khaimah Energy Efficiency and Renewables (EE&R) Strategy 2040, established under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, UAE Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, and targets 30% energy savings, 20% water savings, and 20% contribution of electricity from renewable sources by 2040. The program contributes to the UAE Green Agenda 2030 and National Climate Change Plan 2017-2050 at a federal level, while at an international level, it supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals and subsequently the commitments of the UAE towards the Paris Agreement. The overall framework outlined in the guidelines supports Ras Al Khaimah’s participation in international reporting initiatives for global carbon emission reduction, as it follows the definitions of the greenhouse gas protocol.

The GPP Guidelines are now available on the Reem website.